Mike Webster Research Papers

Mike Webster, a former center for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and a 1997 initiate of the Pro Football Hall of Fame died at fifty because of a heart attack. Nicknamed “Iron Mike”, Webster was known for his toughness and durability during his playing days. Unfortunately, his post career life was filled with physical and psychological turmoil. In 1997, before his Hall of Fame induction the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that Webster was “homeless, unemployed, deep in debt, beset with medical aliments, lacking health insurance, in the midst of divorce, in the care of a psychiatrist and on medication, and involved in a complex lawsuit over real estate investments,” according to Webster’s wife, Pamela, his psychiatrist, Dr. Jerry, his family and

In 1995, the Board of the NFL’s retirement plan agreed that injuries sustained during his football career had caused Webster to suffer total and permanent mental disability. In addition, Webster’s doctors concurred that blows to the head that Webster accumulated over his career damaged his frontal lobe, causing cognitive dysfunction. Following his death, Dr. Bennet Omalu, a Nigerian American, physician, forensic pathologist and neuropathologist performed an autopsy on Mike Webster’s body. As Dr. Omalu was conducting the autopsy, he pursued the root of Mike’s cognitive disabilities. Furthermore, Dr. Omalu diagnosed Mike Webster with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) , a degenerative brain disease found in athletes, military veterans, and others with a history of repetitive brain trauma. This discovery highlighted the potential long-term impact the exposure to mild traumatic brain injuries, common to NFL players, can have. Furthermore, as more research about the correlation between playing football and developing CTE has been conducted this research aims to investigate how the NFL administration and players have addressed this safety

Since the passing of Mike Webster in 2002, a number of high-profile former NFL players have been diagnosed with CTE. High-profile players such as Ken Stabler, the former quarterback for the Oakland Raiders and 2016 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee and John Mackey, the former tight end for the New York Giants and 1992 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee. And similarly, to Mike Webster, players diagnosed with CTE, faced cognitive difficulties and behavioral change during their time on earth. For example, before Justin Strzelczyk, former offensive lineman for the Pittsburg Steelers, died in a car crash when he hit a tank truck while driving 90 miles per hour against the flow of traffic in an attempt to evade the cops, Dr. Jim Doran diagnosed Justin with manic behavior, psychoses and hospitalization necessary. In addition, his wife felt “the man who passed away [wasn’t] the man [she] was married to.” More recently, Aaron Hernandez, former New England Patriots tight end, committed suicide whiles he was serving a life sentence for first-degree murder. After Dr. Ann Mckee, a neuropathologist at Boston University conducted a brain autopsy on Aaron Hernandez’s brain, she determined Hernandez had stage three CTE (out of 4 stages) and his brain damage was usually observed in someone 20